Military aircrafts including helicopters such as attack helicopters-AH and utility helicopters-UH) that operate under hostile conditions, as well as civil aircrafts are susceptible to encountering enemy actions intended to destroy the aircrafts. Such actions may be from ground based weapons, such as anti-aircraft fire, ground-to-air missiles or fighter aircraft carrying air-to-air missiles. To combat enemy tactics, the attacked aircraft may resort to electronic countermeasures, such as jamming tracking radar and missile emissions, deceptive measures such as flares to deflect infra-red missiles or chaff to confuse radar, and evasive maneuvers.
The defense system, i.e., threat warning and countermeasures system, needs to be tested in real time. The effectiveness and quality of the defense system depend on the ability and training of the pilot and aircrew to operate effectively the systems in real time. Various techniques are available to evaluate the performance of aircraft survivability systems, some of which are described below:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,959,015 Describes an interactive tester for electronic countermeasures simulation capable of providing displays of in-flight threats and countermeasures responses representative of an actual combat equipment suite. Threat scenarios are stored in computer memory and recalled at a push-button display console. The aircraft position with respect to selected threats is displayed in real time superposed on the threat parameters. Displays are identical to that provided by the equipment simulated and reflect the true operational status as preset by the operator.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,421,728 describes a system for performing in-flight, real-time Radar Warning Receiver (RWR) testing which optionally merges real and simulated threat indications. The system is self-contained, and no modifications are required to external equipment to support it. The system merges real threat reports with simulated threat reports to create comprehensive and realistic threat scenarios and audio/voice indications.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,549,477 discloses an in-flight simulator for an integrated aircraft survivability equipment system controlling radar warning receiver and a radar jammer with countermeasures control that provides a testing module which emulates the existence of airborne threats. The airborne threats are provided in real time as if they were detected by a threat detection system such as a warning radar receiver or a radar jammer.
Cabib et al., “Missile Warning and Countermeasure Systems in-flight testing by threat simulation and countermeasure analysis in the field”, Proc. SPIE 620662061Y (2006) developed a unique integrated Missile Warning Systems (MWS)/countermeasure test system for field use. The system is composed of: i) high intensity dynamic Infrared Threat Stimulator (IRTS), based on large optics and high speed shutter for time dependent scenario construction and projection to several kilometers, and ii) sensitive IR Jam Beam Radiometer (JBR) for countermeasure testing. The IRTS/JBR system tests the countermeasure efficiency range, probability of detection, reaction time, and overall well functioning.
Jim Clements et al., US Army Aviation & Missile Research Development & Engineering Center, Redstone Arsenal, “Missile Airframe, Simulation Test-bed—Man-Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADS) for Test and Evaluation of Aircraft Survivability Equipment”, Proc. of SPIE, Vol. 8015 80150A-1 describe a recoverable surrogate MANPADS missile system capable of engaging aircraft equipped with Aircraft Survivability Equipment (ASE) while guaranteeing collision avoidance with the test aircraft. The surrogate missile system utilizes actual threat MANPADS seeker/guidance sections to control the flight of a surrogate missile which will perform a collision avoidance and recovery maneuver prior to intercept to insure non-destructive test and evaluation of the ASE.
Thus, there are numerous techniques to evaluate the performance of aircraft survivability equipment against threats. These techniques include laboratory testing with simulated aircraft and simulated missile signatures which lack the realism of evaluating aircraft survivability equipment, and techniques that involve flying actual non-destructive missiles against aircraft which are quite expensive, and therefore, limit the number of tests to a fraction of the desired tests.
It is an aim of the present invention to provide a highly reliable, user-friendly system and method for evaluating the performance of aircraft survivability equipment in real time and real scenario process. The system and method are cost effective so that the cost will not be a factor limiting the number of tests.